Judge Won’t Decide Massive Reggaeton Copyright Lawsuit Against Bad Bunny, Karol G & More

A federal judge is refusing to decide whether reggaeton duo Steely & Clevie invented the genre’s signature dembow rhythm, ruling that only a jury can make that conclusion in a sprawling copyright lawsuit targeting Bad Bunny, Karol G and more than a hundred other artists.

Judge André Birotte Jr. dropped a long-awaited summary judgment ruling on Thursday (July 2) in the long-running case alleging that nearly 2,000 tracks by more than 150 artists copied Steely & Clevie’s 1989 song “Fish Market.” In this first phase of the litigation, Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and the heirs of Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson asked the judge to determine that “Fish Market” was indeed the original, copyrightable source of dembow — the boom-ch-boom-chick percussion that’s now a hallmark of reggaeton.

Lawyers representing the many defendants — including Pitbull, Drake, Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi and Justin Bieber, plus units of all three major music companies — countered that Steely & Clevie have no valid copyright claim because this sonic element “exists in countless prior works and musical genres,” including the centuries-old habanera rhythm.

Thursday’s ruling, first obtained and reported by Billboard, essentially kicks the can down the road on the dispute. Judge Birotte said both sides have built credible cases that conflict directly with each other, meaning a jury trial is the only proper method to decide whether “Fish Market” is copyrightable as the origin of dembow.

“The evidentiary record presents competing, facially credible expert opinions regarding what elements exist in the claimed works, how those elements function musically, whether they are commonplace or original, and whether they form a coherent and protectable selection and arrangement,” wrote the judge. “Virtually none of these facts fall into the undisputed category that the court may consider on a motion for summary judgment. Put simply, plaintiffs’ experts advance one account of the relevant musical features and their significance, while defendants’ experts offer a fundamentally different interpretation of those same features. These are classic disputes of fact, not law.”

Now, the lawsuit will head to a second phase of discovery on the question of infringement — that is, whether there’s evidence that more than 150 defendants in the case had access to “Fish Market” and did indeed copy it for the various songs at issue, including chart-toppers like “Despacito”, “Tití Me Preguntó” and “Dame Tu Cosita.” Further briefing and a potential jury trial will follow unless the many litigants can all agree on a settlement.

A lawyer for Steely & Clevie, Stephen Doniger, told Billboard in a Thursday statement, “We are pleased that the court largely rejected the defendants’ arguments but disappointed that it did not grant our client’s affirmative summary judgment motion.”

“It is hard to imagine how any jury could find the Dem Bow Riddim to be anything other than an original and protectable work given the undisputed evidence that it is made up of seven discrete elements combined in a way that no one has found in any work predating our clients’ ‘Fish Market,’” added Doniger. “That said, we have little doubt that a jury will see through [the defendants’] arguments and we look forward to the next steps in this case.” 

The legal team representing the majority of defendants in the case did not immediately return a request for comment.

The dembow case is a big deal because of its sheer scope, with hundreds of millions of dollars in potential damages at stake. Experts have also warned that it could have an immensely disruptive impact on reggaeton — a booming genre that has risen alongside Bad Bunny from the clubs of Puerto Rico to the stages of the Grammys and the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Back in 2023, Duke University law professor Jennifer Jenkins told Billboard that a win for Steely & Clevie “would confer a monopoly over an entire genre, something unprecedented in music copyright litigation.”